Looking Back by Lora Stull
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One Hundred Years
Ago
(From the Mount Ayr Record-News, Thursday, November 26, 1919.)
At Council Bluffs a band of gypsies was intercepted carrying with them two kidnapped girls, Rosie Mitchell (14) and Sonia Evans (12). The girls were stolen in the suburbs of Philadelphia last March and a nation wide hunt for them has been going on ever since. The girls were taught the art of fortune telling in the meantime and it is stated were quite proficient in separating “easy marks” from the coin of realm. Melia Mitchell, an elder sister of Rosie, has been on the trail of the gypsy band for months and upon finding her sister she telegraphed for her father, who was accompanied by a brother of the Evans girl. Melia notified the chief of police at Council Bluffs when she had located the gypsy camp and the leader Steve Marks and three others were placed under arrest. Marks has admitted to the police that he was a member of a gang of child stealers but denies personal part in it.
More than 1,500 trains pulled into and out of Camp Dodge and carried 350,000 soldiers to and from the camp in the year since the armistice, according to the figures just announced by the authorities of the railway administration consolidated ticket office at the cantonment, just closed. The office had been open twelve months to the day and in that time had distributed to all parts of the country 125,000 men summoned to the colors through the organization at Camp Dodge. Since the armistice, 225,000 have been discharged and started for their homes from the little wooden building that has now gone the way that will be mapped out for many a temporary structure built during Uncle Sam’s scrap. Nine hundred trains brought the men to camp and 750 were made up to take discharged men home.
Obituary in this edition was, Sarah McComb Reed.
Seventy-Five
Years Ago
(From the Mount Ayr Record-News,Thursday, November 23, 1944.)
Several farmers living east of town report seeing deer in their fields last Saturday. The Thayer Cook family got a good look at the animal and saw it easily out distance one of their hounds. Mr. and Mrs. Cook and their sons, Johnny and Charles, were husking popcorn in a field east of their house about 10:30 Saturday forenoon, when they saw the deer in a draw on the Crout place. It vanished into a plum thicket. (Two deer, a buck and a doe, were released during February 1944, near Mount Ayr by the State Conservation Commission.)
Pvt. Jackson wounded while fighting the Japs. Pvt. Drexel Jackson had been wounded in action while serving with the armed forces in the South Pacific area. He is now confined to a hospital.
Ration News: A nation wide grocer-consumer anti inflation campaign has been developed in co-operation with leaders in the food distributing trade. They have taken the initiative in agreeing to secure better posting of ceiling price lists and to use the materials offered free to help them to do this job. The National Association of Retail Grocers is undertaking this program for two reasons; first to help head off the chaos that followed the last war and second to improve grocer-consumer relations and insure continued customer loyalty in the buyers market that lies ahead.
Marriages: November 11, Evalue Carlson and Ensign Baxter…November 19, Helen Cline and Junior Dulany.
Births: November 16, a girl, to Mr. and Mrs. Lester Grimes…November 18, a girl, to Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Weese.
Fifty Years Ago
(From the Mount Ayr Record-News,Thursday, November 13, 1969.)
A venture that might develop into a solid industry for Ringgold County got underway last week at the plant of Green Hills Inc. in west Mount Ayr. According to manager Rex Galloway, the company has started manufacturing metal liquid feeding boxes for cattle. A trial run of 50 of the boxes will be turned out here to test the market. If the reception proves encouraging, the company will swing into full production.
Debbie and Annie Taylor, 16 year old twin daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Wayne Taylor of Diagonal, won the 9th district RAVE (Rural Amateur Variety Entertainment) contest sponsored by the Farm Bureau and held recently in Red Oak. They will compete in the state finals on November 18 during the Iowa Farm Bureau annual convention in Des Moines.
Four men were elected Ringgold County Soil Commission District Commissioners November 3. They are James Smith, Beaconsfield; Roger Schnoor, Mount Ayr; Keith Elliott, Lamoni; and Paul Smith of Blockton. The four plus Keith Lininger, chairman, are the governing body of the district.
Births: November 6, a girl, Tracy Jo to Mr. and Mrs. Duane Olney…November 5, a daughter, to Mr. and Mrs. Kendrick Jones…November 5, a daughter to Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Smith.
Twenty Five Years Ago
(From the Mount Ayr Record-News,Thursday, November 10, 1994.)
The bad taste from Mount Ayr water should be clearing up. With the change in weather this fall, the turnover of the city reservoir has meant that the city’s water has had a strange taste for quite some time. So try to rid the taste, the city attempted to switch completely over to water from the Southern Iowa Rural Water Association (S.I.R.W.A.) system October 28 but problems with a pump near Diagonal meant that the system could not provide all the water, so the city had to go back to using its own water.
Presidential Fitness Award winners at the Mount Ayr Community Elementary school includes: Brian England, Tanner Rinehart, Nathan Weeda, John Galloway, Dustin Bjustrom, Dustin Eighmy, BayLee Stull, Mark Hymbaugh, Nick Johnson, Aaron Roberts, Joe Rumple, Kassady Griffith, Holly Wurster, Mindy Stuart, Rachel Haley, Jim Eason, Forrest Hawkins, Wiley Main, Melissa Winkler, Shannon McKern, Amy Hynek and Katie Morgan.
Obituaries in this edition were: Amos Conrad Lee, Bonnie Lucille Haley Powers, Janis Ruth Caldwell, Barbara Jane Richards Hutt and Lulu Francis Rosebaugh Gifford.
Ten Years Ago
(From the Mount Ayr Record-News, Thursday, October 29, 2009.)
Another group of Ringgold County WWII veterans took the Central Iowa Honor Flight to Washington, D.C. Tuesday, October 13, giving them an opportunity to see the WWII monument along with fellow veterans. Amon Hunt, John May, Robert “Hap” Richards and LBanks Wilson made the trip this time with a flight sponsored by Casey’s General Store.
Three MACHS FFA members were awarded the American Farmer degrees at the national convention held in Indianapolis, IN. Receiving the awards were, Taylor Cameron, Tyler Hosfield and Brandon Werner.
October 17, Clara Adkisson Buck and James Buchanan were united in marriage.
Births: October 7, a son, Braylon, to Mr. and Mrs Aaron Groves…October 22, a daughter, Abigail, to Mr. and Mrs. Joe Lathrop.
Obituaries in this edition were: Mary Ann Long McVey, Lena Fern Creceluis Monday, and Clara Galene Stephens Varner.